Wyatt ex rel. Rawlins v. Sawyer

• Decision Date: 07 October 1999
• Docket Number: No. Civ.A. 70-T-3195-N.,Civ.A. 70-T-3195-N.
• Parties: Ricky WYATT, By and Through his aunt and legal guardian Mrs. W.C. RAWLINS, Jr., et al., Plaintiffs, v. Kathy E. SAWYER, as Commissioner of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and the State of Alabama Mental Health, Officer, et al., Defendants, United States of America, Amicus Curiae.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama

67 F.Supp.2d 1331

Ricky WYATT, By and Through his aunt and legal guardian Mrs. W.C. RAWLINS, Jr., et al., Plaintiffs, v. Kathy E. SAWYER, as Commissioner of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and the State of Alabama Mental Health, Officer, et al., Defendants, United States of America, Amicus Curiae.

No. Civ.A. 70-T-3195-N.

United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, Northern Division.

October 7, 1999.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Ira A. Burnim, Leonard S. Rubenstein, Linda V. Priebe, Washington, DC, James M. Lichtman, Ropes & Gray, Washington, DC, Fern Singer, Sirote & Permutt, Birmingham, AL, James A. Tucker, Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, Tuscaloosa, AL, Kathryn H. Sumrall, Jackson, Garrison & Sumrall, Birmingham, AL, Allen Smith, Jr., Warm Springs, MT, Iris Eytan, San Francisco, CA, for plaintiffs.

Algert S. Agricola, Jr., Wallace, Jordan, Ratliff & Brandt, L.L.C., Montgomery, AL, Ricky J. McKinney, Burr & Forman, Birmingham, AL, Mary Elizabeth Culberson, Office of the Attorney General, Montgomery, AL, Charles B. Campbell, Wallace, Jordan, Ratliff & Brandt, L.L.C., Birmingham, AL, James Darrington Hamlett, Devereaux & Associates, Montgomery, AL, June E. Lynn, G.R. (Rick) Trawick, Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation, Bureau of Legal Services, Montgomery, AL, Gregory D. Crosslin, Clifton E. Slaten, Mindi C. Robinson, Crosslin, Staten & O'Connor, P.C., Montgomery, AL, for defendants.

Kenneth E. Vines, U.S. Attorney's Office, Montgomery, AL, Bill Lann Lee, Robinsue Frohboese, Judith C. Preston, Tawana E. Davis, Robert C. Bowman, United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section, Washington, DC, for United States of America, amicus.

OPINION ON ATTORNEYS' FEES AND EXPENSES

MYRON H. THOMPSON, District Judge.

In this longstanding and contentious litigation, the plaintiffs (who represent all current and future mentally-retarded and mentally-ill residents in the Alabama Mental Health and Mental Retardation System) sued the defendants (officials of the State of Alabama), claiming that conditions in the system's facilities violated residents' rights under state and federal law. This lawsuit is again before the court, this time on the plaintiffs' motion, filed on February 13, 1998, for attorneys' fees and costs pursuant to 42 U.S.C.A. § 1988; they seek $3,806,340.78 for the period from December 1, 1993, to December 31, 1997.¹ Based on the submissions of the parties between February 1998 and the present, and for the reasons that follow, the court will grant the motion, but only to the extent that the plaintiffs may recover $2,996,064.24 in fees and expenses from the defendants.

I. BACKGROUND

Admittedly, the size of the fee request now confronting the court is large. But, as is usually the case, and particularly in the law, context can make the difference. Therefore, the plaintiffs' fee request cannot be accurately and adequately addressed except against the backdrop of the circumstances that have led to the request itself. In its December 1997 opinion, which addressed the status of the litigation at that time, See Wyatt v. Rogers, 985 F.Supp. 1356 (M.D.Ala.1997) (Thompson, J.), and which can be read as a supplement to this order, the court delved in great detail into the history of this 28-year litigation.² The court will not do that here, but rather will touch upon some main events and milestones in an effort to give some idea, albeit a general one, of the context in which the court has had to consider the fee-and-expense request.³

1970-1974: This class-action lawsuit, commonly referred to as the Wyatt litigation, was filed by the plaintiffs against defendant officials of the State of Alabama in 1970. Noting that the plaintiffs' rights were "present ones, and they must be not only declared but secured at the earliest practicable date," the court entered injunctions requiring the defendants to bring state facilities into compliance with certain minimum constitutional standards. See Wyatt v. Stickney, 344 F.Supp. 373 (M.D.Ala.1972) (standards for mentally ill) (Johnson, J.), aff'd in relevant part, 503 F.2d 1305 (5th Cir.1974); Wyatt v. Stickney, 344 F.Supp. 387 (M.D.Ala.1972) (standards for mentally retarded) (Johnson, J.), aff'd in relevant part, 503 F.2d 1305 (5th Cir.1974).⁴ These mental-illness and mental-retardation standards, commonly known as the Wyatt standards, were designed to meet what the district court called the three "fundamental conditions for adequate and effective treatment," Wyatt v. Stickney, 334 F.Supp. 1341, 1343 (M.D.Ala.1971): "(1) a humane psychological and physical environment, (2) qualified staff in numbers sufficient to administer adequate treatment and (3) individualized treatment plans." Id.

1986-1990: In 1986, the court approved a consent decree resolving the parties' continued conflicts over the defendants' compliance with the Wyatt standards and the adequacy of the state's funding and administration of the state's mental health and retardation facilities. See Wyatt v. Wallis, 1986 WL 69194 (M.D.Ala. Sept.22, 1986) (Thompson, J.). First, the consent decree required that all the Wyatt standards "remain in effect," id. at *7, and that the defendants make substantial progress in achieving and maintaining compliance with all of the Wyatt standards. Id. at *3, *7. Second, the decree enjoined the defendants to make all reasonable efforts to achieve full accreditation of Alabama's mental health facilities by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, commonly known as JCAHO, and certification of the mental retardation facilities through Title XIX of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1396, et seq. Third, the decree "substantially broaden[ed] the focus of the litigation to include community placement and require[d] that the defendants make substantial progress in placing people in the community." Id. at *5. Fourth, the parties were ordered to establish a "patient advocate system, operated within and by the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, to help protect the rights of the plaintiff class"; they were also required to establish a "quality assurance system operated by the central office of the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Retardation to monitor and assure the quality of care provided by the Department." Id. at *8. Fifth, the consent decree placed on the plaintiffs and the defendants the affirmative obligation "to cooperate" to establish "a process" by which "plaintiffs' counsel will be apprised of the progress made by the defendants" in meeting the substantive requirements, and, in addition, the defendants were to "continue to receive input from independent experts concerning means" of meeting the substantive requirements. Id. at *8. The parties were also directed to comply with a number of plans of compliance contained in documents filed with the court. Id. Pursuant to these provisions in the consent decree, the parties established what came to be known as the Wyatt Consultant Committee. Wyatt v. Horsley, No. 3195-N (M.D.Ala. Jan. 28, 1991) (Thompson, J.). Finally, the decree provided that, should the defendants fail to comply with the significant provisions in the settlement, the court would entertain requests to reactivate its active supervision of the Alabama Mental Health and Mental Retardation System. Wyatt, 1986 WL 69194, at *8.

Between 1987 and 1990, the Wyatt Consultant Committee worked with all involved — the defendants, their attorneys, plaintiffs' attorneys, and the court — to attempt to achieve compliance with the 1986 consent decree without resort to litigation. On November 30, 1990, however, the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, suddenly and without any prior notice, either to the court, the committee members, or plaintiffs' attorneys, terminated the services of the Wyatt Consultant Committee. At the time, several urgent matters were pending before the committee. The commissioner did not allow the committee a period of time to wrap up its affairs. There was no phasing out of the committee. The commissioner stated that he believed that the department had substantially complied with the consent decree and that he would be seeking such a determination from the court.

1991-1997: On January 18, 1991, the defendants moved for a finding that they had met their obligations under the 1986 consent decree and for an order terminating this lawsuit. In order to facilitate a quick and inexpensive resolution of the lawsuit without discovery, the court, with the approval of the parties, appointed Clarence Sundram to investigate and report to the court and parties the factual issues pertaining to the defendants' compliance with the outstanding orders of the court. Sundram's report on two facilities found that the department had made significant progress as to certain Wyatt standards. He found that the defendants successfully made substantial efforts to improve the physical environments of their institutions and hospitals and increased staffing ratios beyond their prior grossly deficient levels, thus resulting in compliance with many standards. He also found, however, that there remained significant problems and noncompliance as to other critical standards and rights, including treatment and habilitation, safety, assuring residents remain free from excessive and unnecessary medication, and, most significantly, unnecessary institutionalization.

Sundram was unable to complete his review of the system because the defendants breached their agreement by hiring another expert to duplicate Sundram's tours. When Sundram learned of the breach, he resigned, believing that he could no longer function as an independent expert.

In May 1991, the parties sought court approval of two consent decrees that proposed to modify several of the Wyatt standards. Primarily because of lack of support for the consent decrees among the state's...